Executive Council of Australian Jewry: Calls for national anti-Semitism education scheme

In response to a spike in anti-Semitic behaviour, a pilot program has seen high school students form enduring friendships with Jewish teenagers through a mix of religious and cultural activities. Now, there is a push to expand the initiative.

ECAJ co-CEO Alex Ryvchin speaking at the launch of his book The Seven Deadly Myths – anti-Semitism from the Time of Christ to Kanye West, at Bondi Pavilion, August 23. Picture: Giselle Haber.

A pilot program to combat the rise of anti-Semitism has seen Catholic high school students form enduring friendships with Jewish teenagers through religious and cultural activities.

Now, a peak Australian Jewish advocacy group has called for the initiative to be rolled out nationally.

Year 10 students from Catholic schools in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, St Ursula’s and Marcellin, attended a religious assembly at Emanuel Jewish School at Randwick before all students took part in creative workshops exploring religious rituals and examined the similarities between Judaism and Christianity.

The 18-month trial, involving the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) and Sydney Catholic Schools, also saw students who visited the Jewish school develop presentations on their experience, with Catholic school educators taught about historical and contemporary anti-Semitism.

ECAJ co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin has called for an expansion of the program to all schools across the country, in light of recent reported spikes in anti-Semitic behaviour and the need to “reduce the appeal of online extremism”.

Mr Ryvchin, speaking at launch of his book The Seven Deadly Myths – Anti Semitism from the Time of Christ to Kanye West, said the initiative would work with state governments, schools and Jewish museums and be separate from existing Holocaust education.

ECAJ co-CEO Alex Ryvchin speaking at the launch of his book at Bondi Pavilion. Picture Giselle Haber.

“The ECAJ’s national anti-Semitism education initiative will support teachers, students and families by providing them with resources that explain anti-Semitism, and reduce the appeal of online extremism and conspiracy theories,” he said.

ECAJ president Jillian Segal said the recent pilot had resulted in a commitment for a review of Catholic school’s curriculum and teaching materials.

Premier Dominic Perrottet outside the Sydney Jewish Museum after meeting with Local Jewish community Leaders. Picture: John Appleyard.

“We should start with children at school … not only in Year 10 when they study the Holocaust which has been the focus for the last 75 years but at other points in the curriculum,” she said.

The announcement comes amid a reported spike in anti-Semitic activity in NSW.

Former NSW Board of Jewish Deputies CEO Darren Bark called for an expansion of Holocaust and religious bullying education in January, following revelations the then-Premier Dominic Perrottet had worn a Nazi uniform at his 21st birthday party.

The board intervened last September after a raft of reports of anti-Semitic bullying across Sydney high schools – including elite all-boys school Cranbrook, public high school Rose Bay Secondary College and prestigious North Sydney school Knox Grammar.

A recently released national survey by the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) found two thirds of Jewish students face anti-Semitism, anti-Israel attacks at university.